


Bear Me in Mind

by onmyownlittleplanet



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: A love letter to Morgan Rielly, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Cuddling & Snuggling, Defensemen love, Fluff, Gen, SO MUCH FLUFF, Soft Bros, Teddy Bears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22272949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onmyownlittleplanet/pseuds/onmyownlittleplanet
Summary: A story of call-ups, teddy bears, and bonding trips.But mostly just a story of a group of boys who love each other, and really, really love Morgan Rielly.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Bear Me in Mind

Rasmus walked into the dressing room to find two of the lockers already occupied with large, fluffy, white teddy bears in Leafs jerseys. 

As expected, then.

He turned and grinned to Timme, who was already stealing the spot of the bear in the locker nearest the door, and snuggling his face into the soft white fur. Rasmus strolled over to the bear in the center of the row of lockers and mimicked Timme’s pose, folding his arms over the bear’s belly.

“So if we keep getting called up, we’re both gonna end up with beds too full of bears to fit us,” Rasmus mumbled, blowing fur out of his mouth with a chuckle. “Not that I have a problem with lots of teddy bears, I mean.”

“Hey, I haff eight of them now. Some’ding tells me you’re not going to get many more,” Marv said, ruffling Timme’s hair as he meandered into the room. “My room is turning into the North Pole, I have so many bears there.”

“I’m still not sure-!” Timme was cut off by the doors flying open as Mitch and Travis bounced into the room.

“Yo, look at Mo gettin’ those bears in! He must already be here if he snuck the bears into your lockers, eh? Welcome back up, boys!” Mitch fuzzed the toes of the bear still tucked under Timme’s chin, then bounded across the room and down the hall towards the trainers’ rooms.

“Sup, boys? Feeling ready?” Travis glanced towards Mitch’s retreating back, then strode over to his own locker and started stripping off layers. “Those forwards don’t get the joy of getting a Mo Bear. I got four of ‘em, I keep having to find new hiding places from Niylah. Even my puppy doesn’t get to steal my Mo Bears.”

“Any idea how the whole bear thing started?” Timme piped up, turning his head and leaning a cheek on the bear’s head to the side to avoid inhaling beard and fur.

“ _ Nie _ , but it started at the beginning of da ‘17-’18 season. Frankie Corrado still not happy about it, he never got one.” Marv grimaced as he sat on the floor and started to stretch. “He tried to steal one of mine last time he came to town. But since den, every d-man who gets called up gets a Carlton bear every time they come up.”

“It’s a Mo Bear, dude, they’re totally Mo Bears now!” Travis shook his head as he crawled onto the floor with Marv. “Even if they’re  _ technically _ Carlton bears, if Mo gives it to a d-man call-up, that makes it a Mo Bear.”

“That a hill you’re gonna die on, buddy?” Hollsy started stripping off his coat and gloves, startling Rasmus and Timme into remembering that they still hadn’t removed their own winter gear. “‘Cuz I’m going down fighting with you on this one. Those are Mo Bears.”

“Wait.”

“Wazzup, you disagree?” Hollsy frowned playfully at Rasmus as the others all turned to him. “That’s Mo Bear you’re snuggling right there. And you’re sitting in Mo’s locker, you gonna say that about Mo Bears in Mo’s own locker?”

“No, I mean- !" Rasmus paused, furrowing his brow. “Mo gets all the D call-ups bears. But nobody gets Mo any bears, and now he’s hurt. Maybe we should get Mo a Mo Bear? Do you think he’d like that?” He paused again as the others stared at him. “I just thought- I thought it might be nice? The bears are really nice, and soft, and if I were hurt I’d want one too- !“

“Holy shit,” breathed Travis. “You’re right. We gotta get Mo a bear. Mo deserves  _ so many bears. _ All of the bears. We gotta get him like fifteen bears.”

“Maybe let’s just start with one? He does one bear at a time, we don’t want to jinx it or something by getting him lots of injury bears.” Timme shuddered. “No extra injury bears.”

“How about we get him different bear? Like da store in da mall, where you make bears?” Marv cocked his head to the side. “That way he gets special bear, and dey probably have other Leafs stuff for bears.”

“BUILD-A-BEAR BONDING PARTY. AFTER PRACTICE.” Travis stared down each of the others in turn. “We gotta do this, guys. We gotta do it for Mo.”

“Hell yeah, Build-A-Bear! Woo!” Hollsy pumped his fist into the air and cheered. “We’re gonna  _ bond _ , boys!”

“Uh. Hi. Did… did we miss something? I think we missed something.” JT and Freddie glanced at each other before going back to surveying the room from the now-open doors. “Think we wanna know, eh Freds?”

“No. No, I don’t think we do.” Freddie pulled off his mittens. “As long as Mo’s handing out teddy bears, I’m going to keep not asking.”

“Hey, you’re just jealous that you don’t have teddy bears!” Travis swatted at JT’s shoulder as he joined the floor stretches. “Everyone wishes they had a Mo Bear.”

“Jace has more than enough bears. I don’t wish for any more bears, thanks. But sure, bud.”

“Sure, totally believing you bud. Sure thing.” Travis swiveled his head to survey the other defensemen again. “D squad-up after practice. We’re doing this thing.”

**********************

“Okay, this is stupid cute. Marv, get a picture of them before I crash the car.” Hollsy glanced in the rearview mirror. “I seriously can’t take this anymore, they’re  _ snuggling in the back with their Mo Bears and I need to park. _ ”

Marv turned to the backseat, where Timme was stuffed between Travis and Rasmus. Timme’s head rested on Rasmus’s shoulder, both bears tucked together under their chins. Travis sat to their left, grinning ear-to-ear and patting his reddened cheeks for smiling too hard.

Marv pulled out his phone and quickly snapped some pictures as Hollsy pulled into the spot and shut off the car. “I have to brush my teeth now, I think. Very cute, boys.”

They climbed out of the car and headed into the mall, bumping each other gently with their thick winter coats. Timme and Rasmus kept ducking as Travis, Hollsy, and even Marv kept trying to swipe pets of their fluffy bears, all the way to the Build-A-Bear Workshop entryway.

Timme stopped short in the entrance and grabbed Rasmus’s shoulder, Marv crashing into him. “Ras- wait, Ras, I found it!”

He pulled Rasmus over to the bear clothing wall and grabbed a tiny gray hoodie adorned with a Maple Leafs logo on the front. “We can put it on a white bear and wrap one of the legs in an ace bandage!”

“Wait, that’s perfect!” Travis’s eyes widened. “Mo’s bear isn’t a Carlton Mo Bear, but it’s a bear of Mo! I love it! Marv, Justin, whaddya think?”

“Yep, that’s perfect!” Hollsy stroked at Timme’s beard as he was swatted at by Timme’s hand not currently occupied by a bear. “He’s gonna love it!”

Timme swatted at the hand that tried to reach for his beard again.”Marv?”

He smiled and nodded at the rest of them, walking over to another wall and pulling down a large white bear template. “This is the one. We’ve got it!”

They walked over to the bear-stuffing machine and handed over the bear. The attendant offered them a basket filled with fabric hearts.

Rasmus snatched a Leafs-blue heart covered in smaller, white hearts. “We’re using this one, boys. Time to give it some kisses and shower it with love.” He pressed it to his heart and kissed it gently, before holding it up gently to Timme’s lips.

“You’re literally going to give me cavities. You two and your bears are just way too cute. You realize you could have just left them in my car?” Hollsy took the heart from Rasmus and pressed it to his own lips and whispering to it softly, then handing it off to Travis.

Timme blushed under his beard and grinned, bonking his face into Rasmus’s shoulder and nearly missing Travis’s wink as he kissed the little fabric heart. “You don’t mind, though. And Mo wouldn’t give us all bears if he didn’t want lots of cute.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Mo’s the cutest, and I wanna just shower him in bears and hearts. This is just step one of showering Mo in love and affection, right boys?” Travis pressed the heart to his chest and handing it off to Marv and giving a little nod and grin to the attendant, now gently holding the stuffed but unsewed bear.

She smiled back at them as Marv kissed the heart. “You boys are super cute, don’t worry about it. I’m sure your Mo is going to adore this bear. Are you ready for me to put it in and stitch him up?”

Rasmus took the heart back from Marv and smiled down at it. “Yes, we’re ready. It’s time.”

She stuffed the heart into the bear through its back and sewed it up, handing it over to Justin, who immediately started pulling the tiny Leafs hoodie over its head. “Perfect! Once you’re done dressing your bear, stop by the register and then you’re all done!”

“Come on, boys. I want Marv to take our picture and then we have one last stop after this.” Travis grinned at the others. “Mo’s gonna love this.”

**********************************

Mo hobbled into the trainers’ room the next day to find a large, fluffy, white teddy bear in a Leafs hoodie sitting on the examination table, one leg wrapped in an ace bandage and a white envelope propped up in front of it. He picked up the envelope and looked at the writing on the front.

_ For Mo _

Slipping the card out of the envelope, he saw it was a printed selfie- Marv as the photographer, with Travis and Hollsy on the left behind him, holding- yep, this is the same bear- and Rasmus and Timme on the right, cheek to cheek, and each clutching the bears Mo had left for them the day before. Silver words were written along the bottom.

_ BEARing you in mind! Get well soon!  _

_ Love, your teddy bear boys _

Mo put down the picture, hugged the bear to his chest, and smiled as he felt his heart swell with love.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to R for checking this for me!
> 
> The number of bears each one of them would have is accurate. I'm ridiculous and counted each call-up for a defenseman through the '17-'18 season as listed on Capfriendly. As of 1/15/20, the full list of bears given out would be:  
-Calle Rosen- 3  
-Martin Marincin- 8  
-Travis Dermott- 4  
-Rinat Valiev- 1  
-Justin Holl- 1  
-Kevin Gravel- 1  
-Rasmus Sandin- 2  
-Timothy Liljegren- 4  
-Teemu Kivihalme- 1
> 
> Other thoughts on this!!  
\- Cody Ceci, Tyson Barrie, and Jake Muzzin have never actually been called up by the Leafs, so they don’t get bears.  
\- Mitch is actually very jealous of all the bears, as is Tyson. They go to Build-A-Bear with Willy and Kappy and get themselves non-bear stuffed animals, and are careful not to tell Mo.  
\- Mo doesn’t remember why he started the bear thing, but it’s because Calle Rosen, the first bear recipient, is a month older than Mo but was a rookie, so Mo just felt like he needed a little mascot. Then when Marv (Martin Marincin) got called up, Mo felt bad for him getting bounced around, and got him a bear too. Then he just… kept going, and forgot why. And thus, the Mo Bears were born.  
\- Pre-Rasmus/Timme? Just being really cute Swedish boys together? Who knows? But they cuddle together with their bears a lot. Just cover their beds and snuggle up with their combined 6 bears


End file.
